NRR Project: Art Tatum plays "Sweet Lorraine" (1940)

 

NRR Project: “Sweet Lorraine”

Music by Cliff Burwell; lyrics by Mitchell Parrish

Performed by Art Tatum, piano

Recorded 1940

4:20

Art Tatum (1909-1956) was a true prodigy. Nearly blind since birth, he picked up the piano on his own and became one of its greatest masters.

Tatum was known best as a solo pianist. His great strength was his ability to synthesize. He listened to and studied all kinds of music, from classical to pop to jazz; he took those influences and juggled them effortlessly, combining completely differing and seemingly inimical chord progressions, rhythm changes, and note selections, all at a blisteringly fast pace.

He was an interpretive artist. He covered all manner of jazz standards. His playing was compulsive – after an evening’s performance, he would continue to play in after-hours sessions until the dawn. (It is said that his creativity was even more pronounced in these informal performances. They were fueled by his legendary consumption of beer and whisky.)

He would pile chord on chord, making sweeping, eloquent gestures with his keys that nobody could match. His technique was flawless; he mounted on that solid basis to improvise with great range and detail. His work needs to be heard attentively (he often insisted that food or drink not be sold during his performances; he liked the English audiences because they shut up and listened to him). His sound is thick; it’s meaty stuff.

Tatum recorded “Sweet Lorraine” 21 times during his career; each one is distinctive. He was lucky to have found engineers and producers who wanted to get his irreplaceable sound on tape. Tatum was a critics’ darling, never a popular success. He was “classical” in his approach; he did not succumb to the lure of bebop.

It only remains for the interested listener to tune in and harken carefully to his full, rich sound and amazing prowess.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: the birth of Tom Dooley.